Dead of Night
by Prince Firestorm
Summary: Only a week away from Nightmare Night, a mysterious pony goes on a killing spree, striking fear into the hearts of every pony. Will Luna and Twilight be able to find his identity and bring him to justice in time? Or will he remain at large, increasing the fear ponies have of the night? Read and find out, rated T for language and bloody gore scenes.
1. Blood on the Floor

Luna walked through the streets of Canterlot with a smile on her face. Nightmare Night was only a week away and all of Canterlot had decorations up to celebrate the holiday. Plastic Spiders on fake webs hanging from above the streets, banners with Nightmare Moon on them, fake ghosts hanging outside of stores. It was one of the few times of the year that the ponies in Canterlot weren't so stuck up and snooty. "It seems preparations here in Canterlot are done, I better go check on my friends in Ponyville to see how they are doing" Luna said as she walked over to a nearby store. "But first I need to get something to eat." As the automatic doors opened she heard a small ping as she trotted inside to find the store was empty. "This is odd" she said as walked through one of the aisles to find several ponies grouped around what appeared to be police tape with several police ponies holding them back.

"Stand back, only police officials beyond this point" one of them said as Luna approached. "Princess Luna" he said bowing to her. "What are you doing here?" he asked as she saw some blood stains on the tile floor behind one of the counters that served some of the produce and treated it before selling it.

"Officer, what is going on here?" she said as she walked past the police tape to get a better look. One of the officers stood in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

"I am sorry your highness, I was ordered not to let any pony through without clearance" the police pony said not moving from where he was standing.

"Let her in officer, it's ok" a familiar voice said from the room where the blood trails led. The officer stepped aside and allowed Luna to enter a room at the back of the store. What she found there made her throw up a bit as tears came to her eyes from the rancid smell that filled the air. There in the corner of the back room that was filled with boxes with bits of blood staining them was the body of a gray unicorn stallion with a dollar sign cutie mark. His once silver mane was stained red with his own blood, his chest was cut open and his heart had a blade piercing through it. His abdomen had been split open and his intestines were pinned onto the wall with bits of his own broken bones. The pinned up organs formed letters that read "Each one will pay". "Simply gruesome huh sis?" the same voice said from behind Luna. She turned to see Firestorm looking around the room at the blood that covered almost everything.

"Firestorm, what are you doing here? What in Equestria is going on?" Luna said disgusted at the horrors she had just seen.

"Last night a soul came into my chambers and told me that he was murdered and where, he doesn't know by whom though" Firestorm said turning to his sister. "His name was Tony "Big" Bucks, the owner of this store and many others like it."

"Surely you know more than that?" Luna questioned.

"'Fraid not, Tony wouldn't tell me anything else about why he would have been murdered which leaves me to believe that he is hiding something from us" Firestorm pondered.

"Well you need to catch this villain before Nightmare Night, I don't want the other ponies in Equestria to be worried about a crazed killer on one of the most fun holidays of the year" Luna said sternly to her brother.

"Don't worry; I was called in to help with this because I can communicate with the dead, so this should be wrapped up pretty easily, but this killer seems to be targeting a certain group of ponies, so we will get a warrant to search his house for any leads we can use to figure out who the next target might be" Firestorm smiled as his head started to hurt and he heard laughter in the back of his head. "This killer did a pretty good job huh Firestorm, just look at all the blood and gore, beautiful isn't it?" a sinister voice said in his mind. "Shut up" he muttered to himself as he held his head between his hoofs.

"Well I better be leaving, seeing this ruined my appetite" Luna gagged as she left the room and flew out of the store. 'Please find this killer brother, I don't need my citizens to be even more afraid of the night' she thought to herself as she flew towards Ponyville.


	2. So Many Questions

Luna landed near town hall in Ponyville to find every pony in town had a news paper up to their faces. A little colt in a knit cap walked around with his saddle bag full of the Ponyville Express. "Extra extra, store owner in Canterlot done in by unknown killer, read all about it!" he called as Rainbow Dash flew over and took a copy.

"Rainbow Dash" Luna said as she trotted over to the pegasus you looked up at her as she hovered in place.

"Hey your highness, did you hear about this killing in Canterlot?" she asked as she held out the news paper that had a picture of the shop owner when he was alive and pools of blood covering the floor next to it in a different picture.

"Why yes I have, baby brother is currently looking into this matter as we speak. How did news spread here so fast about the murder?" Luna questioned as Rainbow rolled up the news paper and tucked it under her wing as she landed on the ground.

"News travels fast, and you said Firestorm is looking into this?" she asked the dark blue alicorn who nodded. "I don't think he should be doing this, he hasn't exactly been himself lately" she said which caused Luna to raise a brow.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Like he keeps talking to himself and throwing things, he also seems to be having these constant headaches and argues with what I can tell is a voice in his head" Rainbow shrugged. "But anyway, what brings you to Ponyville your highness?" Dash asked changing the subject.

"We have… I mean I have come here to check on how the decorating for Nightmare Night is coming along and also to talk to Twilight Sparkle" Luna answered.

"Well I think she is at the library like always, and let me know how Firestorm is holding up every now and then ok, I gotta stay at my house to watch after Blitz cause I have learned from the past that I cant leave him alone" Rainbowdash said walking off down the street.

Luna arrived at the door to Twilight's library and knocked on the door three times with her hoof. The top part of the door swung open and there stood Twilight with a quill behind her ear and a ton of books lying around on the floor. "Good afternoon your highness, please come in and sorry about the mess" Twilight said as she opened the bottom half of the door and let Luna inside.

"I suppose you have heard as well about the murder in Canterlot?" Luna asked closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, it's really sad that some pony would stoop so low as to murder and old stallion right in his own store" Twilight said with a look of disgust on her face. "But some pony wouldn't just up and murder some pony without reason, which is why I have borrowed manuscripts from the Canterlot archives to see everything that Tony Bucks was associated with in the past three years, but so far I cant find anything." Twilight said frustrated.

"Maybe he was associated with something illegal and not on record" Luna pointed out.

"That would make sense, but we don't have any evidence to back it up anywhere in the archives" Twilight groaned as she put some of the books away.

"Maybe he has something at his house in Canterlot, Firestorm said he was getting a warrant to search the place, maybe we could find something there" Luna suggested.

"That is actually a pretty good idea, so lets get moving Princess!" Twilight said as she galloped out of the building with Luna right behind her.

Meanwhile in Manehatten, thick storm clouds blocked out the sky and rain and lightning filled the air. A red earth pony stallion with green eyes and a slicked back yellow mane was running down the sidewalk, splashing in puddles as he galloped away from something that was flying after him. "Got…to…get…away!" he panted as he turned down an alley and hid in the shadows. "I think I lost him" he sighed as a shadowed figure flew down in front of him, blocking him in. "Shit" he whimpered as the pegasus covered in shadows moved closer.


	3. Nightwing

"I ain't going down without a fight!" the red earth pony said as he swung his front hoof at the shadowed figure. His opponent caught the punch and flipped him over onto his back on the ground, snapping the earth pony's front leg in the process. "FUCK! What do you even want from me?" the earth pony whimpered as the figure stepped into the light created by the street lights to reveal himself to be a dark blue pegasus in a costume that resembled the Wonderbolts, only dark grey with black lightning bolts on it. Over the eye holes were solid white covered that blocked his eyes from being seen. His mane and tail were solid black and his mane was in a spike back position.

"Your boss, where is he?" the pegasus asked as he crushed the stallions other front hoof with his own, causing several minor fractures.

"DAMN IT!" the red earth pony screamed as the pegasus stood over him.

"Tell me now and I can make this end" the pegasus said grinding his hoof into the broken leg of the pony he was interrogating.

"Third street…a warehouse marked "Trottford and Sons" the pony you're looking for is an old unicorn named Vito Tops, cutie mark is a spinning top" the earth pony coughed as the mysterious pegasus grew brought his face closer to his. "I swear that is everything I know, you said you'd let me go now, right?" the earth pony begged as a tear crept into his eye.

"I said I would make the pain stop, but I never said I would let you go" the costumed pegasus chuckled as he grabbed both sides of the thugs head and twisted it so fast that his neck snapped with several cracking noises, letting his body fall limp and lifeless. "Trottford and Sons huh?" the pegasus said as he fly up into the storm cloud filled sky with the cold rain water beating against his face. He flew above the cloud layer with the rain water freezing to his body right as he dove back down through the clouds and landed on top of an abandoned building at a four way intersection in the projects of Manehatten. The street sign bellow him said third street. Across the road from him was a large brick building with faded logo on it that read "Trottford and Sons", noises of crates being moved around and voices could be heard from outside the building on the sidewalk. "This must be it" he said as he flew down from the building rooftop and landed in front of the main door which was large and green with lime colored glass at the top of it. He kicked open the door and stepped inside with his mane dripping wet.

"Yo Doug, get a load of that guy" one of the guards in leather jackets chuckled.

"Yeah, hey freak Nightmare Night isn't till six days from now" Doug laughed as he felt a kick to his stomach and a sharp blow to the top of his head, slamming his face into the ground. The other guard saw this and ran at the costumed stallion with a night stick in his mouth. He swung it only to have it blocked by a dark blue wing.

"Where is your boss?" the dark blue stallion said as he flipped the guard over onto his back and slammed his hoof into the center of his stomach, causing him to cough up blood. The downed guard just spat at him and was met by a hoof to the face. "Where is he!" the stallion growled.

"The office overlooking the plant" he grunted as the dark blue stallion crushed his wind pipe with his free hoof. He entered the plant to find several large crates being moved around by unicorns in work clothing. The stallion flew through the factor swiftly and silently and opened the door and there at a small wooden desk sat an old unicorn with a top spinning on the wooden desk top in front of him. He seemed mesmerized by it and he turned his head up to see the costumed pegasus approaching him as he closed the door behind him with his back hoof.

"How did you get in here?" the cream colored unicorn asked as his grey mane stuck up from it slicked back position.

"Vito Tops I presume?" the dark blue stallion asked as he stood across the desk from Vito.

"I'm calling security" Vito said as he pressed a button under his desk with his hoof. "Why aren't they coming?" he said pressing the button more as the dark blue stallion grabbed the old unicorn from across the desk and slammed him on the floor.

"Don't bother, those two are dead" he smiled as he grabbed a nearby decorative sword with his wing. "Nice weapon you have hear" he chuckled as Vito coughed.

"J-Just what do you want? Money? Power?" the old pony stuttered in fear.

"All I want is justice where it is do" he chuckled as he held the blade to Vito's throat.

"Who are you?"

"Since you are going to die I suppose it doesn't matter, I am the one that killed your associate Tony Bucks, and you can call me Nightwing" He chuckled as he raised the weapon and slashed the head off of the scared unicorn, sending a splash of blood onto the window that faced the plant floor. The ponies on the floor saw this and began to run out of the ware house screaming into the rain filled night. "One more down" Nightwing said as he strapped the sword and its sheath to his back. "I think I'll keep this" he chuckled as he flew through the window that led out into the streets of Manehatten.


	4. Intel

On the busy streets of Canterlot, police barricades had been set up around one house that sat alone at the end of a neighborhood. Several police ponies in dark blue armor and helmets with spinning red lights on top guarded the barricades as Firestorm, Luna and Twilight stood in front of the house with the sun beating down on them as several more police ponies walked around the house, searching for an opening somewhere.

"What do we expect to find in Tony Bucks' house?" Twilight asked as she yawned since it was still pretty early in the morning.

"Don't know, that is why we are going to break in and find out" Firestorm chuckled as one of the cops walked up to him.

"Sorry your highness, we couldn't find a way inside and the windows and doors seemed to be barred from the inside, none of our gear will get it open without blowing up the house" the pony said as he bowed to the two royal siblings.

"No worries" Firestorm smiled as he walked up to the light green door of the house and vanished in a bright red flash.

"Where did he go?" the officer asked as the door was unbarred and unlocked from the inside.

"Come on in" Firestorms aid as Luna and Twilight walked behind him through the small, older styled home.

"So where should we look first?" Twilight said as she used her magic to shuffle through the books in the house study to look for something odd.

"Documents, a contact list maybe" Luna said as she and Firestorm looked around the rest of the room. Luna walked over to the dark brown oak desk and used her magic to look through the drawers until she found a leather journal. "I think I found something" Luna said as police ponies searched the rest of the house for anything else useful.

"A journal?" Twilight asked as she looked at the leather bound book. Luna opened it up to the first page and began to read the names in the book aloud.

"Let's see here, there are 4 names, Tony Bucks, Vito Tops, Eagle Eyes, and…Quick Silver of the Equestrian Brotherhoof?" Luna said a bit shocked.

"Who are those ponies?" Twilight asked intrigued as Firestorm leaned against the wall holding his hoof to his right eye as a massive headache began to overtake him.

"Well, Tony ran a store in Canterlot as well as several others, Vito Tops is a mass property owner in Manehatten, Eagle Eyes is a griffin who owns and manages several large ship yards along the coast, and Quick Silver is known smuggler, arms dealer, drug dealer, and murderer who also happens to be a high ranking officer in a large gang known as the Equestrian Brotherhoof" Luna said looking up at her younger brother who was on the floor in pain and holding his right eye still. "Brother are you alright?" Luna asked about to walk over to him to check on him.

"I'M FINE!" he yelled as his right eyes iris turned blood red and the white of his eye turned black.

"Firestorm, what has gotten into you, you have never yelled at any pony before" Twilight said walking over to him. The black in his eye receded back into his skull and his iris returned to its normal deep blue color.

"I'm sorry, I just need to sit down for a moment" he sighed as he was about to walk out of the room. An officer walked in just then, short of breath.

"There has been another murder…Vito Tops was decapitated in his own warehouse in Manehatten, witnesses remember seeing a costumed pegasus fleeing the scene" he panted.

"Did he leave anything behind? Something we can use to trace him perhaps?" Firestorm asked as his headache eased.

"Yeah, a golden pin, I have it right here" the officer said as he gave the small pin to Firestorm who examined it closely. It was a golden pin with a circular shape to it, it had two large bird wings coming from the sides and an N and a W that overlapped in the center. "We also found something else, all the crates that were just brought in from the Ivory Isles off the coast of Tuskany were broken open and the contents missing, but everything else was untouched for some reason." The officer finished.

"Did you say Vito Tops was murdered?" Luna asked the police officer.

"Yes your highness" he answered.

"He is one of the names in the book" Luna whispered to Twilight.

"So who would be next on the list?" the purple unicorn asked.

"Eagle Eyes, we need to hurry and warn him!"Luna said as all three of them ran out the door and towards a nearby coach with pegasi on the front of it.

"Looks like we have to stake out the docking yards until Eagle Eyes leaves his office" Firestorm said as the coach flew into the air.

"Why don't we just go in and warn him?" Twilight asked.

"Because he is safe until Nightfall, no pony would be stupid enough to kill someone in broad daylight" Firestorm said as he heard a sinister chuckle in the back of his head. "Killing has no specific set time Firestorm" the voice laughed. "And besides, it is always better to let others see ones beautiful work in the day time, makes the blood shine sooooo much better!" the voice laughed in a more high pitched tone. Firestorms eye twitched at hearing this and he just rubbed his forehead with his hoofs.

"I just hope we can catch this guy before Nightmare night in 5 days" Luna sighed as she watched the clouds change shapes beside her.


	5. The Demon Inside

Twilight and Firestorm lie asleep in a life boat while Luna looked up the moon she had raised high into the night sky. The lifeboat they all waited in was hanging from the side of a large ship that was right in front of an office that overlooks the entire docking yard. A single light was on inside the building, and the silhouette of a male griffin could be seen from inside. He seemed to be sitting at his desk writing something. Luna just sat there and observed the area around her, to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. She looked up at the highest mast on a ship beside them and she saw a pony standing on top with his dark blue wings spread out with the moon right behind him. "Brother, Twilight wake up!" she whispered as she shook the two of them awake and pointed at the costumed pegasus with a sword on his back. The pony drew the sword in his mouth and flew down at rapid speeds towards the office of Eagle Eyes without making a noise.

"That must be him" Twilight said as she teleported down in front of the office entrance with the two royal siblings behind her. They heard what sounded like a struggle coming from inside as well as several eagle screeches.

"Let's get in there!" Firestorm said as he kicked open the door and ran inside to find Eagle eyes dead on the ground with several of his white feathers scattered throughout the office and a large gash across his throat. Blood poured from the wound, staining the wooden floor of the undecorated office. Nightwing stood over the body with a sword in his mouth with blood dripping from it, as well as from his face from where the griffin had cut him under his left eye. "Hold it right there!" Firestorm growled as the killer turned to face him after sheathing his sword.

"Prince Firestorm, I have no grudge against you, but if you try to interfere with my mission, I won't hesitate to kill you" Nightwing said with a straight face.

"It's three against one, there is no chance of you winning" Twilight said as she used her magic to put up barriers over all the exits.

"This is your last warning, step aside or this will get ugly" Nightwing warned again.

"No chance, you are charged with multiple homicides and we won't allow you to escape" Luna said pointing her hoof at him.

"I warned you" Nightwing said as he drew the blood stained sword from his back and swung it at Luna, only to have it blocked by a skeletal hand gripping the steel blade. Nightwing pulled the sword loose and flung it at Firestorm, piercing his front right leg, which didn't seem to faze him.

"Come on, switch out with me! I wanna kick his ass!" the voice said again from the back of Firestorms mind. He growled as his eyes turned black and his irises a blood red color, but more changes bega to occur than normal. His mane turned from its normal bright red color, to a piercing bright blue as well as his tail, and instead of having a golden blond coat, it was a very pale yellow color, on his flank was a black demon skull shaped cutie mark with horns and red eyes. The now completely changed Firestorm began to shed something, the real Firestorm fell from the side of the blue haired alicorn who just laughed evilly and looked at his hoof and then down at Firestorm. "Free at last" he chuckled showing his sharp teeth.

"Who is that?" Luna said confused, completely ignoring Nightwing who was just standing still facing the evil alicorn.

"My name is Shadowstorm, I'm the soul of Firestorm's enraged form" he chuckled as his front right hoof began to be encased in a white, spiked, bone like substance.

"Damn you" Firestorm said weakly as he stood up shaking.

"I'll deal with you later, but right now I want to dismember this pegasus before me" Shadowstorm laughed as he slammed the bone covered hoof into the side of Nightwing's face, sending him flying through the wall and into the streets with a blood coming from his mouth.

"Such raw power" Luna said shocked as Shadowstorm flew out after Nightwing who was holding his face in pain as he lie on his back in the street.

"We have to stop them both!" Firestorm said as he flew after his enraged form and tackled him to the ground. Firestorm felt a sharp pain in his side and looked to see it was from where Nightwing had stabbed him. "I am not letting you go free!" Firestorm said as a black skeletal hand came from the ground and punched him in the side, sending him flying through the air and into a wall.

"You fucking idiot, I am all of your power, you can't possibly beat me" Shadowstorm laughed as he stood up and looked around for Nightwing who had snuck off during all the fighting. "And it looks like your killer snuck off during all of the fighting, that means I have to kill one of you three instead" the blue haired alicorn smiled showing his teeth.

"Bring it" Luna said as she helped Firestorm up with Twilight beside her.

"Gladly" Shadowstorm said as he sent a black skeletal fist flying at the three of them, only to have it stopped by a pink skeletal hand that came from the ground in front of Twilight whose horn was glowing black color. "I forgot Firestorm taught you death magic" Shadowstorm said as a white skeletal hand grabbed his entire body and gripping him tightly to where they only thing he could move was his head.

"It took me awhile but I finally figured it out" Firestorm chuckled as blood trickled from his lips. He walked over to the hand that was gripping Shadowstorm and he placed his hoof on the pale yellow alicorn's forehead. Shadowstorm opened his mouth and a grey smoke came from his throat which formed into a shade of a unicorn with a cracked horn. The shade faded and the hand that gripped Shadowstorm let him go and receded into the ground, leaving the two alicorn's looking at each other. "How do you feel now?" Firestorm smiled to the alicorn that nearly killed him.

"Ugh, my mouth has tastes like shit now" Shadowstorm groaned as he turned his black and red eyes to look around him. "I'm sorry Firestorm, I let Nightwing get away" Shadowstorm said drooping his ears.

"Don't worry, we'll catch him, and how did you figure out his name?" Firestorm said curiously.

"When I punched him in the face I managed to read some of his thoughts, there were several things, one is that his name is Nightwing and that he is going after Quick Silver next in Trottingham" Shadowstorm said as he looked over at Twilight. "Sorry for nearly killing you three, I guess Apocalypse put some sort of failsafe on the jewels after he was killed" he chuckled as he felt Firestorm place his hoof on his chest.

"Its fine I guess" Twilight said confused at how drastically the personality of Shadowstorm changed. Shadowstorm began to get sucked into Firestorm's hoof with a smile on his face. Once he was completely sucked in, Firestorm stood up and looked around for where Nightwing may have gone.

"Brother, what do we do now? We lost Nightwing and we have no idea where to find Quick Silver, looks like we have hit a dead end" Luna sighed.

"Not entirely, when I absorbed Shadowstorm, I learned that the four names written in Tony's journal were all linked because of some special trade they were doing, Quick Silver is sure to learn his associates are dead and come out of hiding" Firestorm smiled. "In the mean time, get police down here to clean up that body while Shadowstorm and I do some research on Quick Silver" Firestorm said as he teleported away in a bright flash of red light.

"Your brother is so hard to understand sometimes your highness" Twilight said to Luna who just laughed.


	6. Sewer Rats

Firestorm, Shadowstorm, Luna and Twilight all sat in the Canterlot archives sorting through different books in the criminal records section. Twilight seemed to be working rather diligently at trying to find more intel on Quick Silver. "OK, the only information we have on this guy is that he lived in the run down section of Trottingham as a child and fell into the Equestrian Brotherhoof at age 13 as a drug runner. After several more years he became known as one of their top hit ponies, and pretty soon he rose through the ranks and became one of the top lieutenants in the gang" Twilight said reading the bio of Quick Silver's file with a picture of him in the top right corner of the folder. He had a light grey coat, shining silver mane that was spike all over. His irises were a silver color as well and he had a fair build to him for a pegasus. His cutie mark was a silver wing.

"So is that all you could find out?" Luna asked walking over to her and reading the file.

"This is so boring" Shadowstorm groaned as he rested his head on the table he was sitting at beside Firestorm. "When can we go out and kill something?" the pale alicorn groaned as Firestorm patted him on the back.

"Just be patient" Firestorm chuckled as he stood up from the chair he was in and absorbed Shadowstorm back into his body. "You are gonna let me out when we run into trouble aren't you?" Shadowstorm's voice said in the back of his head. "Fine, it will get you to stop complaining" Firestorm said.

"So where should we start looking for Quick Silver, Trottingham is a very large city" Luna said.

"Do you still have that journal from Tony Bucks' house?" Firestorm asked.

"Yeah, it's right here" Luna said giving the journal to her younger brother. The golden blonde alicorn held the book up with his magic and flipped through the pages until her came to the last entry written inside it as he began to read it aloud.

"_Quick Silver has requested a meeting for all of us to think of new ways to bring the special cargo into the country without arousing suspicion. Apparently the cargo is making too much noise when we bring it into port so we need to bring it in by other means. We could sedate them before bringing them in, but we would end up spending so much of our profit on sedation medications. Is suppose the boss will have to find out a way on his own, cause I am not staying in this business any longer, if any pony were to find out what I am helping traffic, my store franchise would be ruined and I would be out on the streets, or worse in the Canterlot prison. I can't risk it, I am leaving this trade. This meeting in the Trottingham sewers better be the last one that I have to go to, I must remember it takes place four days from now at 12 o'clock am" _Firestorm finished speaking as Twilight and Luna looked at each other.

"When was that entry written?" Twilight asked.

"About four days ago" Firestorm said as he closed the journal and placed it back on the table. "So we better get moving to Trottingham" Firestorm smiled as he whistled for something. Out of a hole in the base of the wall, Toby slithered towards his master and into his mane. "I better take Toby along since he can smell out others" Firestorm said as the cobra rubbed his head on Firestorms cheek.

"Well we better get moving and get there before midnight" Twilight said as she led the others out to the train station. Several hours passed and Luna raised the moon into the sky and it was about 10 at night before they arrived in the city of Trottingham. It was a large city with new looking buildings and a large statue of Firestorm fighting Apocalypse as Death in the center of the city. "They repaired this place rather quickly after the great hell war" Twilight said as Firestorm had flashbacks of the fight between him and Apocalypse. He rubbed the crown on his head and just sighed as he continued to walk over to a sewer hatch.

"This is gonna stink" Firestorm gagged as he pulled the lid off of the hatch and let Luna and Twilight go down first into the darkness. Firestorm climbed down the ladder after putting the lid back on the sewer hatch and jumped down and splashed in sewage water. "We are in deep shit now" Firestorm chuckled as he covered his nose. Luna punched him for making such an obvious pun. "What? It was funny!" he chuckled as Toby stuck his head out of Firestorm main and flicked his tongue around in the air.

"What is he doing?" Twilight asked.

"Snakes use their tongues as their sense of smell, he is trying to find a scent of some pony else down here" Firestorm said as he lit up the tunnel with his horn. Toby pointed his head down the left passage and they all proceeded to gallop through the crap water to find their target.


	7. Quick Silver

Firestorm lead the way through the tunnels of the sewer system with Toby acting as his compass and Twilight and Luna close behind him. Each step they took splashed sewer water on them and let out a horrible odor that made Luna dizzy. "What makes you think that Quick Silver will even show up since his associates are all dead?" Twilight asked as she used her horn to light up the tunnels with a pinkish purple color.

"As far as he knows, only two of his partners are dead, we kept the murder of Eagle Eyes covered up until we can catch these guys and find out what this is all about" Firestorm answered as he took a left down a side passage.

"And what makes you think that Nightwing will show up as well?" Luna asked.

"He seemed to know where the others would be and when, with enough luck he might show up here and we can kill two birds with one stone metaphorically speaking" Firestorm chuckled as he stopped walking and raised his ear. "Does anyone else hear that?" Firestorm asked as they came into a large chamber with several rafters on the wall that seemed to be the control areas for the water treatment area of the sewer.

"It sounds like hoof steps" Twilight whispered as she looked around and saw three ponies on the rafters above them. The one in the center was a tall but lanky pegasus with a silver mane and light grey coat and a silver wing as his cutie mark. He wore shining silver horse shoes that clanked against the metal rafters as he walked. The other two with him were two dark grey earth ponies with high tech crossbows on their backs and Tinker's name written on the side, showing he produced them. "It's Quick Silver" Twilight whispered as the pegasus turned his gaze down at the three of them and pointed his hoofs, making his thugs aim their crossbows at them with the laser dot on Twilight and Luna's foreheads.

"Quick Silver, you are coming with us to answer to some questions" Firestorm said as a phantasmal shade separated from his body and Shadowstorm formed right next to him with a smirk on his face.

"And if you don't come quietly then I will tear you apart myself!" the pale yellow alicorn laughed as the two earth ponies with the crossbows aimed them at Firestorm and Shadowstorm instead.

"I'm afraid not your highness, you see if I go to jail then that wouldn't sit well with my superiors. Although seeing that you are here instead of Eagle Eyes tells me that he is dead as well, pity, that means I have to manage this whole trade operation by myself" Quick Silver laughed as he ordered his thugs to shoot the two alicorn's, only to have the arrows stopped by a black skeletal hand and a white skeletal hand coming from the ground.

"Luna, Twilight, you two take care of the grunts, we got the boss" Firestorm ordered. After he said that, 30 more grunts came from their hiding places in different places in the room with combat knives in their mouths as they trudged through the water at the two mares who were ready to fight. As they drew closer, two of them dropped dead after being cut across the throat by some unseen pony in the room.

"QUICK SILVER!" an angry voice yelled from in the air. The silver pegasus looked to see Nightwing flying in place. "It's your time to die you little shit!" Nightwing yelled angrily as he drew the sword from his back and flew strait at him. Quick Silver snatched one of the cross bows from his thugs and shot a bolt right through Nightwing's front right hoof and pinned him to the wall with blood trickling from the wound which the arrow still remained in.

"They don't call me quick for nothing" the silver pegasus chuckled as Nightwing screamed in pain as he tried to pull the arrow out but to no avail. Luna and Twilight shot spell after spell at the thugs, knocking each one to the ground with every single hit while Firestorm and Shadowstorm flew up after Quick Silver. The silver pegasus pulled a silver dagger from under his wing as he met the two alicorn's mid air and began to fight them.

"What trade are you talking about Silver, is that what all this has been about?" Firestorm growled as he hurled Shadowstorm at the pegasus mid air. Shadowstorm landed a hoof against Silver's stomach, causing him to lose his breath for a moment before he kicked Shadowstorm away with his back left hoof.

"You ask too many questions, but yes this is what it is all about, and I can't have you or your friends interfering with this trade that makes me so much profit." Quick Silver yelled as he flew around the room at super fast speeds and cut Firestorm right under the eye and then across his front legs.

"Damn it!" Firestorm groaned as he followed Silver with his eyes and caught his blade before it was planted in his throat. "What are you trading? What is so damn important about it?" Firestorm yelled as Shadowstorm hurled a black human skull at Silver which exploded on impact leaving several burn marks.

"Slaves, free labor for big businesses to double their profit from saving money on paying workers" he chuckled as Firestorm's eyes went wide at hearing this.


	8. The Enemy of my Enemy

Firestorm still held the silver dagger just inches away from his throat with his front hoofs as Quick Silver pressed on the back of the dagger, pushing it a little closer to the Princes throat. Luna and Twilight were fighting off the grunts one by one with all they had, only to have them get right back up from the filthy water and charge back at them. "There is no end to these guys!" Luna said as she shot condensed balls of water at them from the sewage they were standing in, leaving large bruises as they hit.

"Just keep holding them off!" Twilight said as she froze the water around the grunts' hoofs, freezing them in place as she bucked them in the face, leaving cuts and bruises.

"Damn it" Nightwing groaned as he tried to pull the arrow in his arm from the wall but to no avail, only to have blood squirt out of the wound and mix with the filthy water he sat in. He looked on a stone walkway to his right and saw a crossbow that had been dropped by one of the grunts with an arrow already loaded in it. He turned his head to face Firestorm and Shadowstorm who were pretty badly beaten up as well as Quick Silver who has still holding the silver dagger in his mouth with red and black blood trickling from it. "This may be my only chance to kill this guy" he groaned in pain as he broke the back half of the arrow and slide his hoof off it, causing blood to squirt everywhere.

"This guy is fast" Firestorm smirked as Shadowstorm walked over beside him and they stood in the exact same position side by side.

"What are you two up to?" Quick Silver asked as he turned his eyes just in time to see an arrow flying at him. He jumped in the air and grabbed the arrow with his hoof and used its momentum to hurl it back at and pin Nightwing to the wall but this time by the base of his wing, which is extremely sensitive. He screamed in pain as he began to lose more and more blood. While Quick Silver was distracted, Firestorm and Shadowstorm pressed their front hoofs together, causing a glow to emit from each of them, a red one from Firestorm, and a dark grey one from Shadowstorm. "What is this?" the pegasus said as the two of them changed into one body with a bright purple flame like mane, black coat, red eyes, and two sets of wings coming from his back.

"Fusion spells complete" the pony said in a voice that sounded like two voices.

"Well this is interesting" Silver smirked as he turned to see all of his grunts had been beaten. "And it seems my underlings have been taken out" he sighed. "I guess I lo…" he was cut off by a sword flying through the air and hitting him in the side of the skull and piercing his brain and killing him instantly.

"What the hell!" Luna yelled as she looked to see Nightwing with his sword gone from its sheathe and a smile on his face.

"It is finished" he panted as he blacked out from losing so much blood.

"Awe shit, I didn't even get to warm up" the black alicorn said as he changed into just Firestorm and sent Shadowstorm back inside of his master's body. "We need to get this guy to a hospital before he bleeds to death" Firestorm said popping his neck.

"You want to save this monster after all the stuff he did?" Luna questioned.

"Well we can't just leave him here to die; he obviously had a reason to go after these ponies!" Twilight said as she pulled the arrow from the wall and put Nightwing across her back and teleported up to a metal rafter above her. "Come on you two!" she said as the two of them flew after her and up to the surface level to find a hospital for Nightwing before he bleed to death.


	9. is my Friend?

In Cloudsdale General Hospital, several heavily armed skeletal pegasus guards stood outside of a white door which leads to a large hospital room where Firestorm sat alone. He rested his head on both of his hoofs which were pressed together in front of his face that had no signs of emotion anywhere on it. Toby sat on top of his head, wrapped around his crown as they both starred at Nightwing who was unconscious on a hospital bed with several machines hooked up to him as well as an IV which was hooked up to a pouch of blood that hung over his head which still has his blood stained mask over his face. He had several bandages around his hoofs to stop the bleeding as well as around the base of one of his wings. "Ugh, my wing" he groaned as he slowly sat up and turned his head to see Firestorm sitting in a chair across from his bed with a blood stained sword on his back.

"You recovered rather quickly" Firestorm smirked as Nightwing tried to get up from the bed to escape but was restrained by several skeletal hands coming from the ground and grabbing hold of his legs. "Don't even think about it" Firestorm said sternly as he got up from the chair he was sitting in and walked to the side of the hospital bed and pulled all the machines from Nightwing so he could talk better.

"Let me go this instant!" Nightwing ordered only to be met by the sinister laugh of Firestorm who just smiled and showed his white teeth while still laughing.

"You are in no position to be giving me orders Nightwing" he said as he used his magic to pull the sword from his back and hold it in front of Nightwing's face. "You used this weapon here to cause so much pain and fear" Firestorm said as he stuck it in the floor. "I told the doctors not to remove your mask, out of respect for your identity" Firestorm said as he walked over to the window and looked down at the cloud streets to see Luna and Twilight still holding up a magical barrier around the hospital.

"Where am I anyway?" Nightwing said calming down.

"Cloudsdale General Hospital, it was the closest hospital that knew how to treat pegasi" Firestorm answered as he turned towards the dark blue pegasus in the grey and black costume. "You have racked up quite a case you know, multiple homicides, breaking and entering, theft, assault and evading police. With this much stacked against you, I would say you'd be lucky enough to get off with the death penalty" Firestorm said sternly.

"Those bastards had it coming to them!" Nightwing growled as Firestorm made the skeletal hands grip him tighter.

"But…I am sympathetic towards you, I know why you killed those ponies and that griffin. They were trafficking slaves which was a serious crime itself, but to be cut into pieces while still alive is such a cruel but fitting punishment. The law wants you executed but the public wants you freed after what you have done" Firestorm grinned.

"But what do you want?" Nightwing asked.

"Well first I would like to hear why you went after those criminals with such anger and hatred. Was it because you thought it was your duty to become a masked vigilante and go out and do away with them? Or maybe you had a personal vendetta against these men for restarting this business which killed your loved one? Isn't that right…Blitz?" Firestorm smirked as he pulled the mask off the face of the pegasus, causing a yellow stripe to form in his mane and tail. Firestorm looked at his bruised and cut up face and stared long and hard into the fogged over eyes of his friend who had a look of shock on his face.

"How did you figure it out?" Blitz questioned as Firestorm looked in the mask of the suit to see large electronic chips over the eye holes with several needle sticking from them.

"It wasn't that hard, no other pony could fight like you can and has such a grudge against those who would go into the slave trade that he would go so far as to kill them" Firestorm said as he examined the chips closer. "You stole these from Tinker didn't you? Electronic sight chips which link to the optic nerve and allows sight trough a digital camera in the device. "I saved your life in the sewer cause that if when I figured out who you were, and I couldn't let Dashy's brother croak down there now could I?" Firestorm smiled as he made the skeletal hands let go of the pegasus who quickly pulled the mask back over his face, causing the needles to stick into his eyes.

"I am sorry about all of this, it is just after losing Ice Storm, I swore to wipe out all traces of this horrible business and any who took part in it" the pegasus sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed the sword and it sheath from the floor and put it on his back.

"I am going to make a deal with you Blitz, since you are like a little brother to me" Firestorm smiled as Blitz looked up at him. "I respect what you were doing, bringing justice to where the law couldn't reach, and I want you to continue that, under the condition you don't kill unless necessary and leave the rest to the police force" Firestorm said as he opened the window and let the cold air rush inside.

"Agreed" Blitz said as he stood up and looked at his wing to see if it was well enough to use.

"Now hurry up and get out of here before I change my mind" Firestorm chuckled as Blitz flew out the hospital room and through the magical barrier with ease. Luna and Twilight just looked at each other amazed as the pegasus flew away at faster speeds then any pony else could go.

"He has escaped; call the guars to go after him!" Twilight said as she looked up to see Firestorm leaning out the window letting his red mane blow in the wing with a smile on his face. "Did he let him go?" Twilight asked herself as she is and Luna dropped the barrier and just sighed as Blitz/Nightwing flew off into the distance, far beyond chasing.


	10. Nightmare Night

Nightmare Night had finally arrived and all of Equestria was at ease knowing that the killings had come to an end. Luna and Twilight walked through the streets of Ponyville, each of them in a costume. Twilight wore her Starswirl the bearded outfit from last years Nightmare Night while Luna wore a more magical costume. She had transformed herself into her Nightmare Moon form to scare the little colts and fillies like they asked her to. "Do you think that Firestorm let Nightwing go after all that he had done?" Twilight asked.

"Brother has his reasons for why he does things, sometimes they don't make sense til the end" Luna said as she looked to see Firestorm sitting in front of a campfire with a bunch of foals around him as he appeared to be telling a ghost story to scare them. Toby sat on top of his head with a rainbow wig and small red nose on his face, making him look like a clown. Firestorm had painted his entire body black and white to look like a skeleton with a spiked red mane and tail.

"Just as the couple thought they were safe, they turned to see standing behind them…the undead bodies of their friends!" he said which caused the little ones to scream and hide behind the benches they were sitting on in town square. All but one was shivering out of pure terror; he was a small unicorn colt who was dressed up like a vampire with a cape and fangs with his green mane slicked back.

"Pfft, yeah right, every pony knows there are no such things as zombies" he scoffed as Firestorm raised a brow at him.

"Oh no?" Firestorm smirked as a shadow fell over the colt. He turned to see a green and rotting looking alicorn with red stains around his mouth.

"Boo" the rotting looking alicorn said which caused the colt to jump up from his seat and run away screaming with the other children laughing at him as he ran. "Classic" the rotting alicorn said as he pulled his face off to reveal it was a mask to make him look like a zombie. Underneath was Shadowstorm who had painted himself the same colors as Firestorm only switching them so he looked like a black skeleton with a white outline with a spike blue mane.

"Nice one dude, but I hope we didn't scare the little guy too bad" Firestorm pondered as Scootaloo who had painted herself to look like Rainbow Dash walked over to Firestorm and pulled his tail. Firestorm and Shadowstorm both turned and looked down at the little filly and her friends Sweetiebell and Applebloom. Applebloom was dressed up like and apple and Sweetiebell like a princess and the three of them looked up at the almost identical alicorns. "Is something wrong Scoot?"

"Um, not that I am scared or anything but, zombies aren't real are they?" she said nervously as Sweetiebell tried not to make eye contact with Firestorm.

"No pony knows, not even us" Shadowstorm smiled evilly showing his pointed teeth as he took off the rest of his zombie disguise. The three little fillies grouped closely together and shivered from fear and Firestorm punched Shadowstorm in the shoulder.

"You jerk, why do you want to scare these little fillies?" he growled as a small dark cloud grew closer overhead and Shadowstorm turned his red and black eyes up to look at it. As Firestorm chewed out his assistant, Rainbowdash sat on the top of the cloud dressed as Daring Do and smile on her face.

"This is gonna be hilarious" Rainbow chuckled as she raised her front hoofs to slam them down on the cloud and create a thunder bolt to scare the ponies below. Before she lowered he hoofs she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a black skeletal pegasus staring right at her with its empty, dead eye sockets. It let out a blood curdling scream that made her hat blew off and her mane get stuck in a blown back position. Rainbow Dash screamed as loud as she could and flew away leaving behind her cloud and a rainbow trail.

"Typical" Twilight said as she and Luna stood by and watched all of this go on.

"You are probably gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight" Shadowstorm laughed as he flew away into a different part of town to scare some more ponies, leaving behind an angry Firestorm and three scared fillies.

"I swear I am gonna kick his ass later" Firestorm growled as he looked over on top of town hall to see a pegasus standing on the roof. His coat was dark blue and he wore a black and grey version of the Wonderbolts costume with white plates over the eye holes and a sword on his back. Firestorm just smiled and nodded to Blitz in his Nightwing outfit as he flew up into the air and out of sight. Luna and Twilight were busy playing games and didn't notice until Luna called for her brother.

"Brother, come bob for an apple!" Luna called as she held one in her mouth.

"Yeah, sure" Firestorm said as he looked up at the full moon in the night sky and smiled. "A hero of the night has been born" he smiled to himself as he patted the three fillies on the heads and walked over to the apple tank where Twilight and Luna waited for him.


End file.
